Using Evidence from TextHOW TO “BORROW” AN AUTHOR’S WORDS

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Review: What does a text reference include? Title◦Quotation marks for short stories◦Italics (or underlining) for longer works◦Important words capitalized

Author◦Correctly capitalized

Which is evidence? Why? If we were in a court of law, which of the following would be evidence?

◦ The closing argument to the jury

◦ The murder weapon

◦ DNA samples

◦ The attorney’s explanations and comments

◦ Expert witness testimony

What is considered evidence in writing? Evidence=exact words from an outside source. This is similar to calling an expert witness in a trial. Respected authors can be our “expert witness” to back up ideas and explanations we have. These are the passages we use from the novel, story, article, or book in the EXACT words of the author. (When writing an essay, we choose passages that support a claim. We call these direct quotations “internal citations” when we use them inside a paragraph.”

Evidence in writing=citation One way to think of evidence is to find a passage from text (a story, article, etc.) that proves our point.

When we use this in writing, we call it a citation.

Remember that an internal citation is just a passage taken from the text, story, or piece of writing. It is written word for word.

Rules for borrowing Have you ever borrowed something from someone else? Have you ever let someone else borrow your things?

How should we treat things we borrow?

MLA format When we talk about borrowing an author’s words, there is an exact form for doing that.

Anytime you use the author’s words, use this pattern. ◦ Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last

name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.◦ “Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Example:

“And once they realized how important art was to Homer, they encouraged it” (Levitt 586).

Was this evidence borrowed correctly?◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.

◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Sample: “I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.” (Tan 23).

Was this evidence borrowed correctly?◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.

◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Sample: “I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way (Tan 23).”

Was this evidence borrowed correctly?◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.

◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Sample: “I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan, 23).

Was this evidence borrowed correctly?◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.

◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Sample: “I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan 23).

Was this evidence borrowed correctly?

Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.

“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Sample: “But my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything” (Tan 22).

STOP HERE! Next slide Lesson 1/part 2

The last piece The last part of citing a source correctly is the Work Cited source citation. This tells readers where you got the passage you used as an internal citation.

(NO) SURPRISE!!!! There is a correct format for this.

Work Cited format Work Cited

___________________, _____________. “________________________________________.”

(Author’s Last Name) (Author’s First Name) (Selection Title)

Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print. (Page Numbers)

Work Cited

___________________, _____________. “________________________________________.”

(Author’s Last Name) (Author’s First Name) (Selection Title)

◦ Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

◦ Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.

(Page Numbers)

Notice the “hanging” indent!

Be sure the title is in quotation marks and that title and author are capitalized correctly.

Page numbers here include the entire selection. For example, a selection might read 415-468.

Did I cite my source correctly?Work Cited

___________________, _____________. “______________________________________.”

(Author’s Last Name) (Author’s First Name) (Selection Title)

Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.

(Page Numbers)

WORK CITED

Tan. Amy. “Two Kinds. Literature: Timeless

Voices, Timeless Themes. NJ.

Prentice Hall. 8-15 . Print.

Did I cite my source correctly?Work Cited

___________________, _____________. “______________________________________.”

(Author’s Last Name) (Author’s First Name) (Selection Title)

Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.

(Page Numbers)

WORK CITED

Singer. “The Cat Who Thought She Was a Dog”

Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless

Themes. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall, 2000. 8-15 .

Part Two Review and add…

MLA format When we talk about borrowing an author’s words, there is an exact form for doing that.

Anytime you use the author’s words, use this pattern. ◦ Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last

name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.◦ “Exact words of the author” (Last 777).

Example:

“And once they realized how important art was to Homer, they encouraged it” (Levitt 586).

What if we do not need the beginning of the sentence? Do it like this-

The original text= I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.

Just put the double quotations marks where you want to begin. “her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan 23).

What if we do not need the beginning of the sentence? Do it like this-

The original text= I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way. What if you want the beginning word to start a new sentence? Any time you make changes in the author’s text, you must use brackets. Do it like this:

“[H]er chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan 23).

What if there are quotation marks in the text already?

If the author has used quotation marks…say for a character’s words…we replace those with single quotation marks.

Our double quotation marks (”) means we are borrowing the author’s words. Single quotation marks (‘) are used to replace double ones in the text. LIKE THIS— In the text: “You want me to be someone I’m not!” I sobbed.

In our citation: “ ‘You want me to be someone I’m not!’ I sobbed” (Tan 23).

Part Three Review and add…

What if we only want to use part of the sentence?

Add an ellipsis to show that something has been changed or removed from the original text.

An ellipsis is three dots… If I change something or leave something out in a citation, I add an ellipsis with brackets.

Like this: “ ‘Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter […]’ I shouted” (Tan 23).

What if that will be the beginning of my sentence?

The original text= I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.

Do it like this and use the ellipsis to show you are changing the lower case letter to an upper case one.

“[H]er chest was heaving up and down in an angry way”

What if I want to take out some of the middle of the sentence?

Original: I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased I was crying.

Citation: “I was sobbing […]and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased I was crying” (Tan 23).

What if I want to take off the end of a sentence?

Original: I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased I was crying.

Citation: “I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was heaving even more […]” (Tan 23).

Yikes!!! Never change the meaning of the original text.

“She lifted me up […] as if she were pleased […]” (Tan 23).

Stop and practice with “After Twenty Years.”

Stop and practice with “After Twenty Years.”

Hanging Indent